Astrophysical Turbulence

Astrophysical Turbulence

Turbulence is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the Universe.

For example, turbulent convection is an important mechanism for the energy transport in stars. But also the extremely dilute gas in galaxies, which is called the interstellar medium, happens to be turbulent. Particulary in cold molecular clouds, supersonic turbulence is know commonly recognized to play a key role for star formation. And there are even indications that the largest structures in the Universe host turbulent gas. Intriguingly, turbulence and magnetic fields in the so-called intracluster medium appear to depend on each other.

Wolfram Schmidt has investigated various aspects of astrophysical turbulence by means of numerical simulations. The side menu points you to ongoing research projectes. An excerpt of his Habilitation Thesis is published in SpringerBriefs in Astronomy: